Abstract

An atomic force microscope is used to scribe polymer-coated substrates to create an electrically controlled liquid crystal-based polarizationgrating. The grating is nondiffracting in the voltage-off state and diffracting in the voltage-on state. Based upon an optical phase difference of approximately between adjacent pixels, the grating’s efficiency is independent of optical polarization and can be prepared for diffraction in either one or two dimensions.

Received 25 April 2006Accepted 14 May 2006Published online 20 June 2006

Acknowledgments:

The authors thank Zhibin Huang and Dr. Matthew Sousa for useful conversations, and Dr. Ichiro Kobayashi of Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. for a supply of SE-1211 and for useful discussions. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Science under Grant No. DE-FG02-01ER45934.